Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Salim Almaliki Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Machinery, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq Author-Name: Nasim Monjezi Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran Title: Using new computer based techniques to optimise energy consumption in agricultural land levelling Abstract: Land levelling is one of the most energy-demanding steps in soil preparation. There are many limiting factors for a specific land levelling operation, such as fertile topsoil conservation, limited allowed slope, specific cut to fill ratio, etc. These limitations make optimisation problems of land levelling even more complicated. In this research, three computational and evolutionary methods including ICA, PSO, GA along with MLS were utilised as optimisation methods to minimise the soil cut and fill volumes and to determine the preferred levelling plane. The results indicated that ICA had the most efficient solution for the energy optimisation in the land levelling among the other investigated methods by saving 29% (17 GJ) of the total energy consumption compared with MLS. This study deals with optimising the energy consumption during land levelling projects using new computer-based techniques and compares them to the MLS method as a benchmark. All in all, ICA, PSO, and GA performed much better than MLS by saving 29, 17, and 10% of the total energy consumption in their best model (number 1 models), respectively. Nonetheless, with these great capacities for saving energy in developing countries, unfortunately, the lack of education and excess subsidies on fossil fuels nullify these potentials. Keywords: genetic algorithm, imperialistic competitive algorithm, particle swarm optimisation, sustainable agriculture Journal: Research in Agricultural Engineering Pages: 149-163 Volume: 67 Issue: 4 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.17221/20/2021-RAE File-URL: http://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/20/2021-RAE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/rae-202104-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlrae:v:67:y:2021:i:4:id:20-2021-RAE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Eddy Plasquy Author-Workplace-Name: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plant Products Department, Instituto de la Grasa - CSIC, Seville, Spain Author-Name: Maria del Carmen Florido Author-Workplace-Name: Crystallography, Mineralogy and Agricultural Chemistry Department, ETSIA, University of Seville, Seville, Spain Author-Name: Antonio Higinio Sánchez Author-Workplace-Name: Food Biotechnology Department, Instituto de la Grasa - CSIC, Seville, Spain Title: Effects of a manual harvesting device on the quality of the fermented green olives (cv. Manzanilla) Abstract: In order to make harvesting table olives profitable, mechanical harvesting has become an absolute necessity. Many small Andalusian producers face structural and financial constraints in implementing the mechanisation of harvesting and, as a consequence, the fruit is still harvested manually. A manual inverted umbrella (MIU), initially designed for harvesting oil olives, was evaluated in order to determine the extent in which this device can optimise the harvesting without jeopardising the fruit quality. Simultaneously, the effects of a diluted lye treatment, applied to prevent the proliferation of brown spots caused by bruising during mechanical harvesting, was also studied. The quality of the harvested fruit was evaluated after complete fermentation. The results indicate that when no diluted lye treatment was applied, using the MIU resulted in a slightly inferior fruit quality. However, when the amount of heavily damaged fruit is taken as a standard, the MIU presented results comparable to those obtained by manual harvesting. The MIU does, therefore, offer small producers an efficient alternative, given that manual harvesting costs are up to three times higher than the costs incurred during MIU harvesting. Keywords: fruit damage, harvesting, manual device, small producers, table olives Journal: Research in Agricultural Engineering Pages: 164-170 Volume: 67 Issue: 4 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.17221/7/2021-RAE File-URL: http://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/7/2021-RAE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/rae-202104-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlrae:v:67:y:2021:i:4:id:7-2021-RAE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Samuel Kojo Ahorsu Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ho Technical University, Ho, Ghana Author-Name: Hayford Ohori Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ho Technical University, Ho, Ghana Author-Name: Ernest Kumah Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agro Enterprise, Ho Technical University, Ho, Ghana Author-Name: Maxwell Budu Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ho Technical University, Ho, Ghana Author-Name: Cephas Kwaku Bosrotsi Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ho Technical University, Ho, Ghana Author-Name: Joseph Aveyiri Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Title: Development of HTU-model variable chipping clearance cassava chipper Abstract: The objective of this research was to design, construct and evaluate a variable chipping clearance cassava chipper for processors which will produce uniform and varying cassava chip geometry for multipurpose usage. It consists of a drive shaft with varying chipping clearances (6, 18, and 28 mm) to produce varied chip geometry. The average throughput capacity of the chipper was found to be 475.5 kg.h-1 at a speed range of 460-800 rpm with a chipping clearance of 6-28 mm. The average chipping efficiency ranges from a minimum-maximum of 76.6-99.4% for the selected operational speeds and chipping clearances. The chipping capacity and the output to input ratio is dependent on the operational speeds and chipping clearances of the machine. Keywords: cassava roots, efficiency, moisture content, operational speed, throughput capacity Journal: Research in Agricultural Engineering Pages: 171-180 Volume: 67 Issue: 4 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.17221/102/2020-RAE File-URL: http://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/102/2020-RAE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/rae-202104-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlrae:v:67:y:2021:i:4:id:102-2020-RAE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Ritesh Ranjan Author-Workplace-Name: North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, India Author-Name: Prabhanjan Kumar Pranav Author-Workplace-Name: Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar, India Title: Cost analysis of manual bund shaping in paddy fields: Economical and physiological Abstract: Bund shaping is one of the essential operations in preparing a paddy transplanting field. This operation is undertaken manually by spades in a traditional way as this has not been mechanised thus far. Therefore, this study was conducted to expose this operation by evaluating the economic, as well as physiological, cost involved in the bund shaping. For the economic cost, the study was conducted in nine different districts of Assam (India). The bund length for the estimated area was measured and estimated for one ha of land. The average rate of manual bund shaping was also measured to calculate the cost involved in this operation. Moreover, for the physiological cost, ten experienced subjects were calibrated and measured for their maximum aerobic capacity by sub-maximal exercise in laboratory condition. Furthermore, the heart rate was measured during the manual bund shaping and was then correlated with the calibrated data. It was found that the average required bund shaping length per ha was 3 669 m which was associated with a cost of 2 062.8 rupees. It was found that the bund shaping consumed 76.96% of the maximum volume of the oxygen consumption capacity of the subjects; however, the energy expenditure rate with respect to time and bund length were 7.37 kcal.min-1 and 4.33 kcal.m-1, respectively. Hence, bund shaping in a paddy field comes under a severe workload category which emphasises the need of mechanisation for the bund shaping operation. Keywords: cost of operation, economic cost, heart rate, paddy field, subject calibration, work severity Journal: Research in Agricultural Engineering Pages: 181-189 Volume: 67 Issue: 4 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.17221/23/2021-RAE File-URL: http://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/23/2021-RAE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/rae-202104-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlrae:v:67:y:2021:i:4:id:23-2021-RAE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Milan Helexa Author-Name: Ján Kováč Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Environmental and Forestry Machinery, Faculty of Technology, Technical University in Zvolen, Zvolen, Slovak Republic Author-Name: Jozef Krilek Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Environmental and Forestry Machinery, Faculty of Technology, Technical University in Zvolen, Zvolen, Slovak Republic Title: Testing tyres of mobile forest machines in the soil testing canal Abstract: The article focuses on the research of tyre rolling resistances in the soil test channel environment. The specific monitored tyre was a Mitas TS05 10.0/75-15.3 10PR diagonal tyre with an arrow tread. The measurement itself was divided into two stages. In the first stage, measurements of rolling resistance were performed on a solid concrete base of the laboratory in order to determine the internal component of rolling resistance of the tyre. In the second stage, rolling resistances were monitored on forest soil deposited in the main body of the soil channel. The mentioned measurements of rolling resistance can be considered key for further evaluation of traction and energy properties of tyres. Despite some complications which occurred during the measurement, the results obtained indicate the conclusions reached by other researchers in the field. The main conclusion of this research is to confirm the justification of using the correct or optimal level of inflation pressures of tyres of mobile energy means depending on the properties of the surfaces on which they move in order to reduce not only their energy intensity but also greater environmental acceptability. Keywords: mobile working machine, rolling-resistance force, tensile force, tensile test, wheel bogie Journal: Research in Agricultural Engineering Pages: 190-198 Volume: 67 Issue: 4 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.17221/76/2020-RAE File-URL: http://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/76/2020-RAE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/rae-202104-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlrae:v:67:y:2021:i:4:id:76-2020-RAE Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Václav Novák Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Machinery Utilization, Faculty of Engineering, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Petr Šařec Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Machinery Utilization, Faculty of Engineering, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Kateřina Křížová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Machinery Utilization, Faculty of Engineering, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Workplace-Name: Division of Crop Protection and Plant Health, Crop Research Institute, Prague, Czech Republic Title: Physical properties of a soil under a pig slurry application and organic matter activators Abstract: To investigate the effects of organic matter activators combined with a pig slurry on a soil's physical properties, a field experiment was carried out in a monoculture of corn (2015-2017). Three pig slurry application variants complemented with the activators in question, i.e. with PRP SOL spread directly on the soil surface (SOL), with Z'fix added to the slurry during the pig housing (ZF) and with a combination of both PRP SOL and Z'fix (ZF_SOL), were compared with just the pig slurry (C) under an equal dose of nitrogen and a uniform growing technology. According to the results, a positive effect of the penetration resistance with the pig slurry and the activators of organic matter (Z'fix and PRP SOL) was not proven. The saturated hydraulic conductivity was demonstrably better achieved with the Z'fix activator, but PRP SOL activator also provided a certain improvement. The largest change in the unit draught was observed in the ZF_SOL application (20% increase). The results seem ambiguous; however, they give a good indication of the activators' effect in practice. Nevertheless, the findings would certainly benefit from further verification. Keywords: agricultural management, field experiment, penetration resistance, soil organic matter, unit draught Journal: Research in Agricultural Engineering Pages: 199-207 Volume: 67 Issue: 4 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.17221/84/2020-RAE File-URL: http://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/84/2020-RAE.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/rae-202104-0006.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlrae:v:67:y:2021:i:4:id:84-2020-RAE